THE NICARAGUAN CANAL. 625 



cargo, would be not less than 1,000,000 tons. Then we have the traffic to and 

 from Japan, northern China, the Phillipine and Sandwich Islands, the islands of 

 the south Pacific, New Zealand, and Australia, to and from our Atlantic Coast 

 and European ports. One million tons would be a small estimate. We have 

 then 5,000,000 tons plainly in sight as soon as the canal is open for traffic, and 

 will leave the traffic of the west coast of South America to the Panama Canal ; 

 upon the hypothesis that it will actually be completed. With canal dues of $1.00 

 per net ton and deducting $1,000,000 for maintenance of the canal and for tow- 

 age, we have $4,000,000 for dividends, which is a small fraction below five per 

 cent on $82,378,678, the maximum cost of the canal arrived at by doubling the 

 engineer's estimates. 



But a traffic of enormous proportions will develop from the construction of 

 the canal, without which it would be impossible; the timber traffic from Puget 

 Sound extending northward even to Behring's Strait, to our eastern coast, and to 

 Europe. In order to have a conception of what this will amount to, let the 

 skeptic visit the Liverpool steamer Oregon and examine the thirteen splendid 

 timbers in bright colors from the State of Oregon, with which that vessel is fin- 

 ished. The yellow cedar when finished is as beautiful as satin, is as easy to 

 work as cypress, and surpasses oak in durability. All of these timbers are superb 

 and are to be found in enormous quantities convenient for shipment, and can be 

 put on board of sailing vessels and auxiliary propellers at small cost and with 

 munificent profits, and can be sold in Europe at certainly below the market 

 price, at this time, of ordinary pine plank; add to this the constantly increasing 

 wine product of California, and we see at once what a mine of wealth the con- 

 struction of the Nicaragua Canal will bring to all of the inhabitants of the west 

 coast, and what an amelioration it will prove to those of our east coast and to 

 Europe. 



We may well conceive that the earnest commencement of the construction 

 of the canal would serve at once to establish our ship-building interests and our 

 iron trade, upon which almost all the prosperity of our industries depends, and 

 thus revive the entire traffic of our country. We see in this timber traffic that 

 the canal dues will soon have to be reduced to fifty cents per ton to avoid a 

 revenue far above the usual rate of interest paid on an investment. 



Such persons as may object to a government construction of the work are 

 reminded that our citizens holding a concession were unable during a period of 

 years to obtain of Congress a simple act of incorporation. It is idle now to inquire 

 into the influences that prevented; the question now is presented in its simplest 

 form. 



Statesmen may perceive the advantage of our Government constructing the 

 canal rather than abandoning it to another government. They may perceive, 

 too, that after developing the commercial certainty of this canal the nonconstruc- 

 tion of it by us will not prevent its construction by others. Were it only for the 

 purpose of silencing the question politically, it would seem cheap to construct it 

 were the cost ten times the amount of the sum named. It would prove a far 



